always glad to see you back, steel! this looks like a banger already. I love the idea of a universe where the nhl still exists but us yanks have to do our own thing. can't wait to see boston win all the jaffe cups ;​)

This will be a long post, but includes important history of the main character which will be the building blocks of the story. tl:dr Jacob Jaffe was a great collegiate hockey player, injured war hero, banker and political manager, amateur hockey coach, and with the help of FDR, ready to build a pro hockey league.

About Jacob Jaffe

John Jacob Jaffe was born in 1892 to a prominent family in Wilmington, Delaware and spent his childhood in Philadelphia's Main Line area. His father was a well-to-do doctor of Jewish origin to the city elites and his mother was a socialite from a wealthy Episcopalian political family in Philadelphia. At age eleven, Jaffe was sent to a boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire called St. Paul's School, a prep school for the children of upper class families in the Northeast and surrounding cities such as Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Jaffe's parents soon divorced and remarried.

While at St. Paul's School, Jaffe was introduced to ice hockey. The first American rules of ice hockey had been written at St. Paul's by a schoolboy named Malcolm Gordon and some say the first ice hockey game in American history was played on its Lower School Pond in 1883. Gordon was teaching and coaching hockey at St. Paul's while Jaffe was in attendance. Jaffe quickly learned the nuances of the game and excelled as an exceptional skater and puck handler with his natural athleticism. Jaffe's inclusion on the varsity team at just 14 years old helped St. Paul win many intramural games against other prep schools and even university clubs.

In 1910 Jaffe enrolled at Princeton University for the Class of 1914. While at Princeton, Jaffe again excelled as an athlete playing multiple varsity sports. His senior year of hockey was the stuff of legends. He graduated in 1914 after majoring in history, politics, and economics. Jaffe moved to New York City where he briefly worked for the New York Times before taking a job on Wall Street at J.P. Morgan Bank. He played amateur hockey for the St. Nicholas Hockey Club in Manhattan during this time between 1914-1916.

Bored with banking life, Jaffe enrolled in a civilian aviation corps to learn how to fly and training to pass a military reserve pilot test in 1916 and by 1917 he left the United States for Europe to join in WWI where he became a fighter pilot. Jaffe was promoted to Captain and given command of a squadron where he became an ace and decorated service member. Around the time the Armistice was signed between Germany and the Allies ending the war, Jaffe was ordered to return home in late 1918. While testing a recently repaired plane just before his return, a catastrophic engine failure caused Jaffe's plane to nosedive and crash, where he sustained brutal injuries and nearly died in a local hospital. A lengthy recovery kept Jaffe in France until late 1919 before finally returning to the United States where he was awarded a Purple Heart among other distinctions. Still regaining use of his legs, Jaffe returned to work at the bank despite hating it and tried to find a normal balance of life as he would have to use a cane for the rest of his life. He still longed to be involved in sports but the complications from his injuries made it unlikely he would ever play sports competitively again so he instead helped coach his St. Nicholas amateur club when he could.

Over the next few years, Jaffe was excited when the National Hockey League made attempts to bring professional teams to the United States, especially in Manhattan and had hoped to become involved but his requests were denied. Jaffe decided to move to Washington DC in 1926 to join a local political campaign as a manager and financier but the Great Depression had started in earnest and Jaffe soon found himself bored in the national capitol. He migrated west to Southern California for his health and continued recovery from his war injuries but by the early 1930s with the Dust Bowl in full effect, Jaffe was soon dissatisfied again. After hearing that Franklin Roosevelt, then the governor of New York was considering a run for president, Jaffe moved back to Manhattan and thew himself into helping FDR's political campaign while returning to work at J.P Morgan bank and again coaching the St. Nicholas Hockey Club.

Through intimate knowledge of FDR's ideas for rebuilding the United States, Jaffe began to see an avenue for promoting professional hockey as a boost to the economy and national morale. At the nudging of the governor and future president himself, Jaffe decided to pool all of his money and connections to consider the possibility and viability of a professional hockey league in the United States.

Slapshot Kirby wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has posted in this thread yet, as I think your latest hockey league sounds like a promising one so far, Steel! Although, how many teams will this league have to start? Looking forward to seeing the reveals of the teams either way!

Thanks for being the first to post! All I'm gonna say is the story will reveal itself ;)

idm wrote:

always glad to see you back, steel! this looks like a banger already. I love the idea of a universe where the nhl still exists but us yanks have to do our own thing. can't wait to see boston win all the jaffe cups ;​)

Thanks! I think you'll be quite pleased. I also decided to assume you pronounced it to be similar to "coffee" in a funny Boston accent here which would be quite punny. I also assume you do know how it's pronounced, but just in case for anyone else, this is it.

Sky wrote:

Looking forward to this! I'll be sat for the Chicago team until Charlotte gets a squad 

Thanks! Similarly to IDM, I think you'll be pleased, and maybe in the future, quite pleased.

Section wrote:

Loving this already and can't wait to see where it goes!

Anxiously awaiting a Minnesota team!

I, too, anxiously await Minnesota. One of the things I intend to rectify is the egregious lack of pro hockey in the area compared to real life.